Future is bleak as public fail to rally - Guisborough Maternity Unit appears doomed after people failed to turn up to crucial consultation meetings.

The spectre of closure was spelled out by Langbaurgh Primary Care Trust chief executive John Chadwick at the last public consultation meeting on the future of the midwifery-led unit at Guisborough Hospital.

He told a gathering of just three people at Bow Street Parish Hall that so far the most people who have attended the crucial consultations about the unit's future in East Cleveland was a meagre seven, at Skelton.

At one venue in Guisborough, no one turned up at all.

This is a huge contrast to 2002 when thousands of people begged for a reprieve for the much loved unit.

It closed in November, 2002 but reopened in June, 2004, after an 18-month closure and refit.

A recent 1,800-signature petition also backed keeping the unit open.

But latest figures show just 125 babies were born at Guisborough in its first year after re-opening.

A minimum of around 300 births are needed each year to make the facility viable, with 500 a year the ideal figure.

The PCT board will make its final decision at its meeting on March 23, but officials admit there is little in their consultation findings to help save the facility.

Head of midwifery Fran Toller, said: "The highest amount of births we've ever had at Guisborough is 190 and that was pre-1990.

"Many women now want epidurals and caesareans which can only be provided at Teesside's James Cook University Hospital."

Mr Chadwick said: "It's very disappointing as this is a lovely maternity unit, well loved by many people. I haven't got a date for its closure, but it could be soon after the PCT board's decision."

She added: "But I stress there is no question of closing Guisborough Primary Care Hospital which has a great future. We have just spent a lot of investment there and are very proud of the work going on.

"But if the maternity unit closes, I don't know at present what will happen to the Chaloner block."